GoogleContainerTools/skaffold · error

verify test failed

Error message

verify test failed

What it means

The verification container ran to completion but exited with a failure (or errored during its wait), so the verify test case is marked failed with 'verify test failed'. The wrapped containerErr contains the container's exit status/logs context.

Source

Thrown at pkg/skaffold/verify/docker/verify.go:294

			containerErr = err
		}
	case status := <-statusCh:
		if status.StatusCode != 0 {
			containerErr = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("%q running container image %q errored during run with status code: %d", opts.VerifyTestName, opts.ContainerConfig.Image, status.StatusCode))
		}
	case <-v.timeout(timeoutDuration):
		// verify test timed out
		containerErr = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("%q running container image %q timed out after : %v", opts.VerifyTestName, opts.ContainerConfig.Image, *timeoutDuration))
		v.client.Stop(ctx, id, util.Ptr(time.Second*0))
		err := v.client.Remove(ctx, id)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.Wrap(containerErr, err.Error())
		}
	}

	if containerErr != nil {
		eventV2.VerifyFailed(tc.Name, containerErr)
		return errors.Wrap(containerErr, "verify test failed")
	}

	eventV2.VerifySucceeded(opts.VerifyTestName)
	return nil
}

func (v *Verifier) containerConfigFromImage(ctx context.Context, taggedImage string) (*container.Config, error) {
	ociConfig, _, err := v.client.ImageInspectWithRaw(ctx, taggedImage)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return dockerutil.OCIImageConfigToContainerConfig(taggedImage, ociConfig.Config), nil
}

func (v *Verifier) getContainerName(ctx context.Context, imageName string, containerName string) string {
	name := containerName

	// If no container name is provided, derive it from the image name

View on GitHub (pinned to a1189de023)

Solutions

1. Read container logs (`docker logs <container>`) to see the test failure output
2. Fix the failing test or its configuration inside the verify container
3. Check resource limits/OOM kills via `docker inspect` exit code (137 = SIGKILL/OOM)
4. Verify network/service dependencies the test needs are running and reachable

Example fix

// before: wrong command path in verify container
command: ["/bin/run-tests.sh"]
// after
command: ["/app/run-tests.sh"]

// Smoke-test the verify command locally first
if err := exec.Command("docker", "run", "--rm", verifyImage, testCommand...).Run(); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("verify command fails in container: %w", err)
}

if err := verifier.Verify(ctx, out, tc); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "verify test failed") {
        // fetch logs for diagnostics
        exec.Command("docker", "logs", containerName).Run()
        return fmt.Errorf("verify test %s failed: %w", tc.Name, err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: createAndRunContainer waits on the container status channel and containerErr is non-nil — the container exited non-zero or failed during execution, after successful creation.

Common situations: The test binary inside the container exits non-zero; container killed by OOM; command in the verify container not found; test depends on a service that isn't reachable from the container.

Related errors

• %q running container image %q errored during run with status
• %q running container image %q timed out after : %v
• creating skaffold network %s: %w
• getting imageID for %q: %w
• failed to remove old container %s for image %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/skaffold@a1189de023 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2d005e81be26c1ad. Report an issue: GitHub.